Temperature-depth profile data collected using expendable bathythermograph (XBT) casts from NOAA Ship McARTHUR and other platforms in the Coastal Waters of California from February 19, 1985 to March 16, 1985. The data were submitted by the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) as part of the California Cooperative Fisheries Investigation (CALCOFI) project and processed by NODC to the Universal Bathythermograph Output (UBT) format. The format contains pairs of temperature-depth values recorded at inflection points to define the temperature curve.
Use Cases
- Modeling ocean temperature gradients based on inflection point depth-temperature pairs.
- Analyzing coastal water column structure for fisheries research as part of the CALCOFI project.
- Validating oceanographic models with historical temperature profiles from February-March 1985.
- Studying the performance and data structure of expendable bathythermograph (XBT) instruments.
Strengths
- Data includes cruise information, position, date, and time for each observation.
- Temperature-depth values are recorded at inflection points to accurately define the temperature curve.
- Standard XBTs can obtain profiles to depths of 450 or 760 m, with special instruments reaching 1830 m.
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Last updated 1985-03-16 00:00:00; freshness should be verified.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
Provenance
- Source
- Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL), processed by NODC.
- Collection Method
- Data collected using bathythermograph (BT/XBT) casts.
- Time Range
- 1985-02-19 to 1985-03-16
- Geography
- Coastal Waters of California